FC Nizhny Novgorod — Baltika : Match Preview and Prediction for October 26,2025

The Nizhny Novgorod team seems to have completely lost touch with quality play and consistent point-scoring in the . This season, Aleksey Shpilevsky took over the team. The former coach of Kokorin at Cypriot Aris, this Belarusian, with his background from the RB Leipzig system, is increasingly seen as even less effective than Ilic, who managed the team last year.

The past week brought no revelations, only more disappointing results for the hosts. First, they narrowly lost at home to fellow relegation battlers Akron 0-1, conceding a goal to Loncar with just 20 minutes left. This was followed by a crushing 1-4 defeat in Rostov against the local Don team, playing with a mixed squad. Nine losses in ten matches strongly suggest that the Belarusian coach’s time in charge might be nearing its end, as the football style he is trying to implement simply isn’t working for FC Nizhny Novgorod. For the upcoming match against Baltika, the hosts will only be missing Ektov.

Parish-NN’s open style of play will undoubtedly suit Baltika, a team proficient in pressing, adept at exploiting quick counter-attacks, and generally very adaptable under Talalaev’s guidance. The revelation of this RPL season, Baltika, secured their second consecutive victory in the previous league round, following their first defeat of the season against CSKA (0-1).

A convincing 2-0 home win against Makhachkala was followed by an impressive away victory in Kazan against Rubin, where the Kaliningrad side completely outclassed their opponent, defeating them 3-0 on their home turf for the first time in their head-to-head history. Naturally, one of the league leaders travels to Nizhny expecting to claim all three points. While they did lose 1-2 to Lokomotiv in the cup with three goals disallowed by referee Kukuyan, this was with a mixed squad, as the guests are focusing primarily on the league campaign. Injured Mendel and suspended Andrade will miss the game for Baltika.